Raja Riasat
Professor Nancy McClure
English 101
22 April 22, 2015 Essay 2
According to "Afghanistan's Only Women Taxi Driver Steers Change" by Mustafa Najafizada and Lynne O’Donnell, Sara Bahai is the only Afghanistan female taxi cab driver. She has this job because she is an independent women who drives because it is her passion, even though it's against what society expects as a role from a women. She is in her 40's and has been told not to work outside her home because she is a women. Sara Bahai advocates Afghanistan women to live independently and to financially support their family, stand up for themselves and in so doing she hopes one day to make a change. Sara Bahai is disobeying what her culture tells her based on the opinion of men. If Sara Bahai obeyed laws of customs of the male society, she would be going against her personal moral judgment and her humanistic conscience. If Sara Bahai didn't disobey what her culture tells she would be an intellectual slave. Fromm uses as an example of disobedience from the Greek Myth for Prometheus. Prometheus steals the fire from the Gods and gives it to humans, which is an act of disobedience. But with this action, Prometheus helps man’s evolution. The act of disobedience is a one of the necessary steps for the human evolution and growth. Prometheus does not regret his action and he gets his punishment. The author gives us this reference in order to show us how disobedience can be a good thing for somebody. Eric Fromm says that obedience is a psychological and moral problem that can have a negative impact on individuals.
Humanistic conscience is when a person wants to please themselves and that will lead to a good result to them. Humanistic Conscience is when someone is interested in whatever helps someone based on what's right and wrong. Authoritarian conscience would be the conscience when someone is following an authority that will want to benefit from them rather than following their own humanistic conscience. Sara Bahai is rejecting authoritarian conscience and following her humanistic conscience because she isn't trying to please others. Instead Bahai is following her humanistic conscience by being independent and following her own moral standards for her personal benefit and for the benefit of her family.